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Kenya Sees 3rd Week of Anti-Electoral Commission Rallies

May 16, 2016 12:47 PM

Jill Craig

Protesters, rallying against what they see as a biased electoral commission, run away from police during clashes in Nairobi, Kenya, May 16, 2016. The country is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in August 2017.

For the third Monday in a month, hundreds of protesters gathered in Nairobi to demand major reforms in the country’s electoral commission, starting with the resignation of the commission members. Protests also took place in western Kenya.

The protesters, most of whom are supporters of the opposition CORD coalition, accuse the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC, of favoring the ruling Jubilee coalition. They say the commission is unable to conduct free, fair, and transparent elections.

James Orengo, a Kenyan senator with CORD who led the crowd in chanting, “no reforms, no elections,” says a fair vote cannot be held with the current electoral commission in place.

“But, we are determined to make sure that if there’s going to be an election at all, then the elections must be held in terms set out by the Kenyan constitution, which says that the elections must be free and fair,” said Orengo. “An election where every vote counts, and [where] everybody has been given an opportunity to register as a voter.”